Policy Statement adopted May 14, 2009

Subject: Unpaid and Delinquent Accounts

Effective May 14, 2009, notwithstanding any other policy governing unpaid and delinquent accounts, parking privileges for monthly corporate and governmental customers may be suspended by the Hartford Parking Authority (“Authority”) or its authorized agent after sixty (60) days in the event of nonpayment, as set forth below.  In addition, the Authority shall assess a finance charge of five percent (5%) per annum on account balances in excess of one hundred dollars ($100.00) unpaid after thirty (30) days from the date that the monthly fee is due unless otherwise waived by the Authority’s Executive Director.  Charges for validated parking tickets (“validations”) are billed in arrears and are due thirty (30) days from the invoice date.  After thirty (30) days, unpaid delinquent balances resulting from the nonpayment of validations shall be treated by the Authority the same as the nonpayment of fees for monthly parking privileges and are subject to all the provisions of this policy statement, including the assessment of finance charges and the possible suspension of parking privileges.

The Authority is adopting this policy pursuant to its power to “collect and receive all revenue” from parking facilities in the City of Hartford, as set forth in Sec. 10-15(4) of the Hartford Municipal Code.  Specifically, this policy is intended to address delinquencies that have extended beyond a reasonable time.  The Authority believes that this policy is necessary in order to limit the Authority’s financial exposure and risk.  Carrying unpaid balances for an extended period of time adversely affects the Authority’s ability to “create, establish, finance, maintain, and operate” city-owned parking facilities, as set forth in Sec. 10-1 of the Hartford Municipal Code.

Compliance: The following steps are required to comply with this Policy:

In the event that balances for either monthly parking or validations exceeding one hundred dollars ($100.00) remain unpaid for more than thirty (30) days from the date that the monthly fee is due, the Authority, or its authorized agent, shall notify the customer in writing and by mail that parking privileges will be suspended if payment (including all finance charges) is not received within sixty (60) days from due date. 

If full payment of the outstanding balance and finance charges is not received by the Authority within forty-five (45) days from the due date the Authority, or its authorized agent, shall send a second notice informing the monthly corporate customer of the balance due including accrued finance charges for the first forty-five days and informing the customer that the Authority may take legal action to collect any unpaid and delinquent account balances as allowed by any applicable laws.  Any collection costs incurred by the Authority, including attorney’s fees, shall be assessed to the corporate customer as an additional charge.

If full payment is not received by the Authority within sixty (60) days from the due date the Authority shall send a third and final notice informing the customer that parking privileges will be suspended as of the first of the month following sixty days (or one day less if February is one of the two delinquent months) from the due date.

Unless otherwise waived by the Authority, all customers whose parking privileges have been suspended must remit all outstanding charges, including finance charges, before parking privileges can be restored.  Application may be made in the form of a letter to the Authority’s Chief Financial Officer requesting reinstatement and should include a promise to pay all future parking-related charges on a timely basis.  The Authority’s Chief Financial Officer shall reinstate parking privileges immediately upon the full payment of all outstanding charges, including any applicable finance charges.

If reinstatement is granted but parking privileges for a monthly corporate or governmental customer is suspended a second time within two years of the prior suspension, in accordance with the above provisions, said entity’s parking privileges shall not be restored unless said reinstatement is approved and adopted by a Resolution of the Authority.

The HPA was created in December 1998 by a City Council ordinance that amended the Hartford Municipal Code. This ordinance was adopted pursuant to Chapter 100, C.G.S. 7-202, of Connecticut General Statutes. This State statute permits towns and municipalities to create parking authorities. As such, the Hartford Parking Authority is a separate "body corporate and politic" to the municipality of Hartford.

As currently authorized under Chapter 10 of the Hartford Municipal Code, the Hartford Parking Authority is responsible for creating, establishing, maintaining, and operating the City's dedicated parking facilities. Under this ordinance, the HPA is responsible for the Church Street, MAT, and Morgan Street Garages.

The HPA is governed by five members, who are nominated by the Hartford City Council and appointed by the City Manager. Authority members serve without compensation.

Our Mission "The City of Hartford's on and off-street parking system shall support existing land uses, encourage economic growth, assist the City's economic vitality, and be founded in the principles of transportation system management, by providing adequate and high quality parking resources and related services for all user groups that need to park within the City."

 
Our Goals Parking management is an interrelated web of strategies and tactics that are formulated to meet certain goals for the parking system. The coactive goals to support the Mission Statement read as follows:

• Providing sufficient parking to service existing land uses, additional parking supply to supplement private parking supply in areas of the downtown that suffer from a parking deficit, and adequate parking supply to support new development initiatives that correspond to anticipated parking demand
  
  
• Maintaining structurally sound, safe, clean, well-lit, and well landscaped parking facilities that aesthetically integrate and functionally serve the community in which they exist
  
  
• Recognizing that parking is a business and a service, and as such, must follow a business model that is financially self-sustaining and founded in the economic law of supply and demand
  
  
• Employing the least offensive and most understandable parking management strategies that are fair, consistent, and equitably administered
  
  
• Preserving the most convenient and proximate parking spaces for short-term parking patrons, presumably retail parking patrons, while encouraging long-term parking patrons, presumably office and retail employees, to park in spaces that are less proximate to their destinations
  
  
• Promoting compliance with parking regulations
  
  
• Promoting easy access to parking destinations in a pedestrian friendly environment
  
  
• Promoting alternative means of transportation through relationships, communication and cooperation with mass transit providers
  
  
• Preserving parking for its residents in neighborhoods throughout the city
  
  
• Promoting a consistent look so that public parking is easily identifiableMaintaining effective and timely internal and external communications